Fatou Kineh

When Fatou Kineh's mother was a child, she was given a bad polio vaccination. And lost the use of her legs. Her family could not afford a wheelchair, so she dropped out of school. 

But when she had children of her own, she was determined that they would go to school.  Even though she was divorced, she supported her family by selling phone credit from a stand at the Westfield traffic junction.  She is a strong woman, and she is also the President of the Disabled Person's Association.

When her oldest daughter Fatou Kineh graduated from 12th grade with test results high enough to be admitted to the University of The Gambia, she and Fatou Kineh looked for help. When classes began and she had not found any, she borrowed money from the Association to pay the first term's fees. But the cost of year at UTG was more than her mom earned in more than a year, Fatou Kineh knew she was running out of time to find a way to pay the rest.

Then someone told her about GambiaRising.  And while our focus is on getting girls through 12th grade, we knew we had to give Fatou Kineh the support she needed. And pay off her mom's loan as well.

We were not wrong.  Four years later, Fatou Kineh was the top student at the University.  She was also named Valedictorian of her class.  

Fatou Kineh's mentor at the university, an American mathematics professor, is only a few years from retirement. Fatou Kineh decided she wanted to be her successor. But to do so, she would need an advanced degree. And so she applied to Ohio University's Master's program. We let her know we could not afford the costs of a U.S. education, but we would pay her exam fees, visa fees, even her plane fare should she be able to get a full scholarship.  Which you will not be surprised to hear, she did receive.  And a few weeks ago, six years after starting her quest, Fatou Kiheh received her Master's Degree in mathematics from Ohio University.

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Saratou

In 2012, when Saratou's mother fell ill, her family decided she should stop school at 6th grade and help at home. When her teacher at St. Therese's school heard about this,, he alerted the school's Principal, who is also GambiaRising's local Coordinator. He promised support for Saratou to stay in school, and with this promised support, Saratou's family agreed she could stay in school. Three years later, she completed 9th grade near the top of her class.

Which is where most students in Fula Bantang usually stopped school, since there was no senior secondary school within ten miles of the village.  But just then, a group of GambiaRising donors began funding our biggest project:  building a senior secondary school in Fula Bantang. Each year, another grade was added, and each year, Saratou was one of the students. And in just a few weeks, Saratou will be one of the first 12th graders to graduate from this new school.  After that, who knows?  She hopes to be a nurse and serve her people.

When one of your students thanks you on the front page of the nation's largest newspaper, it is hard to keep your program a secret.  And when your field organization consists of a dozen Gambians who volunteer their time to coordinate scholarship programs where they live, they alo become well known. And so more and more mothers, and their daughters and sons, are finding our Coordinators and asking for help. Most people in the Gambia are poor, and everyone would love some help. So our team's focus is to determine not who is poor, but instwho, without help, will not be in school. Most of the time, the clearest indicator is this: they've already dropped out of school - for a few months, or even several years.  But they haven't given up hope for a better future, and they know that education is necessary for that.  

This is where you come in.

The work we have signed up for requires showing up every month, every year.  The Gambia is littered with development projects that were completed, celebrated, photographed, and now sit in disrepair. The good news is that every year of education our students get can never be taken away from them.  :But we aspire to more than that. We want them to know that we will stand behind them at least through 12th grade. And so our first priority must be to support every single student we are already supporting. Therefore we must count on our donors to remember these students every year. And then we fervently must also hope that new donors will join us, since that is the only way we will be able to offer support to ANY new students.

The costs are so low and the difference in their lives is so great, that we simply must come through every month, every year. For $15 per month, we can support a girl through high school. And for $5 per month, two girls can go back to elementary school!!  Think about how different their lives will be if (or when) they have that chance.

Most of the students we support Iand on our waiting list) are from families with no father present (or none capable of working), and most of the mothers have never been to school. Both the girls and their mothers are fiercely determined that they will be where the cycle of poverty will be broken. They come again and again, hoping we will be able to say "Yes."  

They may not all become valedictorians, but they do deserve a chance.   Thank you so much for giving them the help they need. 

While we are a few weeks from June graduations, we are already starting to plan for September.. We are so grateful to those who contribute monthly, which smoothes out our cash flow.  For those who donate annually, it is never too early to renew!  The earlier we have certainty about what our funding will be, the earlier we can makes plans for September. 

And we have only one source of funding: you.

It takes so little to change a life

Thank you so much.

Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee, GambiaRising
www.gambiarising.org
www.facebook.com/gambiarising